Cedar planks on the grill, oh man, they sure give the food a great smoky flavor! Make sure you have a fire extinguisher and a spritzer bottle of water nearby just in case. We had a few flare-ups, oops!
Cedar-Planked Maple Salmon
Yield: 4 for dinner
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 2 tbsp soy sauce (low sodium)
- 1 tbsp hoisin sauce
- juice from 1/2 an orange (you will need 2 oranges total)
- splash of rice wine vinegar
- 1 tsp each sesame oil and canola oil
- 1 pound wild Alaskan salmon (if possible, I found this on sale otherwise it’s a bit too pricey for me)
- 1 cedar plank soaked in H20 for at least 1 hour (I put it in a baking dish, covered with water and topped with another baking dish to weigh it down)
For the cous cous:
- 1 cup whole wheat cous cous
- 1 cup water with juice of other orange 1/2
- 1 orange, zest and segments
- various grilled veggies – bell peppers, green onions
- handful of walnuts
- splash of the maple sauce above
- salt and pepper
Soak cedar plank for at least 1 hour in H20. Prepare grill to about medium. Combine the first 6 ingredients in a medium sauce pan. Boil gently until reduced down and syrupy. Reserve a little for the cous cous. Once cedar plank gets slightly smoky on the grill, place salmon on plank. Baste with maple mixture every 3 minutes for about 15-20 minutes until slightly pink in the center.
Boil water and juice for the cous cous, add cous cous, stir, turn off heat, cover and let sit for 5 minutes. Place in a large bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients to combine.
Plate and enjoy! This is really really good! Sorry for the terrible lighting. It was getting late and that good sunlight was dwindling!
I also grilled some bok choy and served it with 1/4 of an avocado. Bok choy has a wonderful popcorn-like flavor when it’s grilled and green onions taste like sweet candy. I can just eat them whole! I paired it with this chardonnay that was recommended to me at Lee’s when I couldn’t find my favorite buttery chard from Ravenswood. While this chardonnay wasn’t really that buttery at all, it was very bright with grapefruit and citrus flavors. Honestly, it didn’t go to well with the buttery-ness of the salmon and avocado and kind of cut into the flavor characteristics of this dish for me. Oh well, it was still pretty refreshing and mellowed out a little as it warmed up. It’s still fun to try a new wine, but sometimes you just wish you could have got your tried and true favorite, no?
Tonight for dinner I made a salmon cous cous salad, just love leftovers! And what’s a good salad without some dried fruit, crumbled goat cheese and a dollop of greek yogurt?!
Close-up! Glorious salmon . . . I wish I could eat this every day.
